I make electronic music using 80s style synth & drum sounds and try to make it original,interesting and varied. My music is in CSGo & on Spotify & Bandcamp.
Here is Album 11. The idea was to try to capture moods relating to the mining heritage of Cornwall and the hard lives those working in the mines endured. There are a few more light hearted tracks in it too. I hope there is something there that you like. I enjoyed writing it .
My new album is now released and available on Spotify and soon on many other streaming sites and also Bandcamp if not already there. I hope there is something there you like among the 21 tracks which include a Jupiter Eight remake.
I am thinking about the album I hope to release next month. I am finishing off the 21 tracks and thinking about the album cover artwork. I plan to call it "From My Imagination". I have an oil painting I did a few years ago that I would like to use as the cover picture.
This is Philip in about 1990 discovering the fun in making sounds on the Roland Jupiter 8 used for the string sounds in Electronic Voluntary and Jupiter Eight.
Me making Synchobonk, Digadig and many others in the 80s using Juno 60, Minimoog, Moog Rogue, MC 202, TR 606, a Kwai module and Fostex 8 track and a B&O Reel to Reel and various home made sound bleepers often working until the dawn chorus at around 4am told me it was bed time.
Steventhedreamer was there on the hottest day. Coming out of a cool supermarket yesterday afternoon into the heat of the carpark was like stepping out of an aircraft at Mumbai airport. A rare experience in this country.
My next 20 track album now more or less completed, hopefully to be released next month, is broadly time based and reflects the human race from thousands of years ago and into the future and the album cover picture I have in mind reflects that.
Thinking music while walking yesterday. I have made a start on my next album which will include a Jupiter Eight Remake and I aim to make around 20 new tracks for release in the Autumn. Please be patient as it all takes time.
Here is my latest album. It is my eighth album. I hope you find tracks you like. It is available with my other albums on Bandcamp or to stream on Spotify and many other streaming sites. I shall be interested to hear your (polite) feedback.
This was my first album of new music for years. It was a steep learning curve to use Cubase instead of a multitrack tape recorder/mixer. It has made it possible to make a wide range of music but using original instrument sounds.
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Yesterday I started a new track. I intended to write a nostalgic 80s synth one but after I wrote a series of chords and then drums and bassline it sounded more like a calypso so I added a tune and suddenly I had an unexpectedly different tune from what I had intended.
Steventhedreamer is very much alive and kicking and making music. My son 3kliksphilip suggested that I should sign up to Twitter to communicate with people interested in my music so here is my first Tweet.Thank you to those of you who have given me such a positive response.
We all have problems in life to overcome. I first became aware of a problem I have when I was about 10 and still at junior school. I was asked to identify a feature on an ordnance survey map and got the answer wrong. I was told off by the teacher.
Being told off was not fair as I mistook brown for green. I only realised later in life that I am green/brown colourblind when the two colours are the same shade. I shall never forget the feeling of injustice I felt when told off for something I couldn't help.
My daughter pointed out that I should have posted the caption "The real me" with the picture and not as a separate tweet so I have retweeted it with the caption . I am new to Twitter but learning every day.
Last Sunday I sat down at my keyboard at 9am to write a new driving dance track with boom boom bass and alternate hi-hat cymbal, a series of chords and in 4 hours I had a backing track. At 6pm I worked on a tune and by 10pm I had a new track. A track in 8 hours is very unusual.
Naming a new track can be fun but it can be difficult. I sometimes have an idea or subject in mind and write a track on that theme so naming it is easy but some of my tracks are just named after an instrument used in making it like MS20 and Jupiter Eight or what it reminds me of.
In this world currently seemingly bent on self-destruction through greed, dishonesty and anger, there is a light of hope that shines. Creativity is the antithesis of destruction just as love is the antithesis of hate and they give us hope for the future.
Later in life I took up oil painting and once did a view of a grey stone church and was pleased until I was told it was green! The cover painting I used for "From My Imagination" has no green paint in it. Instead I mixed black and yellow to make the various shades of green.
The B&O Reel to Reel I had could be used as an echo or delay effect unit as you could bounce the sound left and right in stereo so it produced the haunting effect used on only Lonely, MS 20 etc. Later tracks like Electronic Voluntary used a Roland Dep 3 Reverb and Akai enhancer.
It may only take a day to put together an outline for a track but it takes weeks of regular plays to iron out the faults and think up good introductions, variations and breaks and a suitable ending. It takes several hours a day for several days for each track.
Thank you for those of you that suggested an answer. Unfortunately, people seem to think I have a burpy family and pets. Sorry to disappoint you but that is not the reason.
I shall reveal the answer now.
@quackaslacks
Hello Shart. I am glad my music can make you groove. I try to reach those parts of the soul that other music can't. I try to offer something a bit different. Comments like yours are my reward.
A lovely sunny Father's Day. While relaxing with a beer recently I thought about the album I plan to release after my August one. I find the idea of the mysteries of the distant past quite fascinating. Maybe that could influence my first album of 2024. I shall work on the idea.
Part 1 Making up a new tune can be difficult as so many tunes have been made up over hundreds of years of music writing. Not only am I inevitably influenced by tunes I like from the past and particularly my teenage years but even TV and game tunes can be there in my subconscious.
My mood influences my style of music writing. As I sit at my keyboard about to start a new track I listen to dozens of different instrument sounds and play a few notes on each and suddenly one sound strikes a chord in my head and matches my mood.After a few minutes a tune evolves
@p8tgames
Good morning the funny man. I think I may be Jack of all trades but probably master of none. I have restored many old vehicles over the years. I love creating something from nothing or restoring things to how they should be for others to enjoy.
Part 1 of 3 Musical Moods
Our moods can vary from day to day. A piece of sad news, the loss of a loved one, a health problem or a worry about how to pay the ever increasing bills can have a dramatic effect on how we feel. Good news can make us feel good about life generally.
Once released it is too late to correct that annoying mistake you hear each time you play it. Totally absorbing and rewarding. I am so fortunate to enjoy modern technology that lets you hear and correct what you write as you write it but was not available to the old composers.
I had a broadly American theme in mind for this album from the busy streets of New York to the peace of Central park and "Caboosing" in the panorama train. From the stagecoach of the 1800s to the modern Harley Davidson. A broad range of sounds and styles.
Sometimes when you write a song it seems to take for ever and is hard work and other times it happens quickly and everything comes together right. I suppose it is the same with anything creative. When it works well it is very rewarding especially when others like it.
@KubilayC38
@3kliksphilip
If it were not for Philip's help and encouragement over the years my music would not be online for people to hear. Thanks Philip.
@Luigi64128
It works well and goes almost everywhere with me if I am away from home. I think 61 keys would be better but at least I can play with both hands on a 49 key one so a good compromise.
Part 2 of 3 Musical Moods
The choice of music we listen to can be influenced by our mood. Equally when writing music my mood affects the type and style of music I write. In a themed album the mood of the music changes according to not only subject but also the mood of the day.
@vLgrt2543
I don't know how people find me but I am pleased to have the opportunity to talk to so many nice people on here. It has surprised me how much interest has been shown in my posts. Philip suggested I might open a Twitter account and I am glad I did.
Part 3 of 3 Musical Moods
Deep In Thought was written at a time when so much had changed in our daily lives. That album told a story that has happened so often. It reflected turmoil in the world and a cloud of uncertainty over us all because my mood was also affected by it.
The reaction to my Synchobonk Collection, Deep In Thought, Stagecoach To Harley and Wingwalker albums has been amazing. I am pleased and surprised that so many people seem to enjoy my music and have encouraged me to make more. I am planning another new album this Summer.
Part 2
I try to select appropriate drum patterns, bass lines and chord patterns. Checking for errors is important. One misplaced note or wrong chord or slight timing error if allowed to stay uncorrected is there forever for all to hear, especially me.
Part 2
What I try to do to overcome this is by choosing a drum pattern, a rhythm or bassline that I like and match them together to complement a tune I have in my head or develop a tune that matches the rhythm or bassline then play it and hope it does not sound familiar.
@ChristinezDM
@3kliksphilip
Thank you very much. 20 more tracks to come around Christmas time. Then 20 more planned next late Spring. Hopefully a few of those will appeal to you.
@gcburger40
Thank you gcburger40. I try to do my best at everything. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but there is a positive side even to failure; you just learn to do things better next time.
@Zdude11
Life is a series of tests. It wasn't meant to be easy or there would be little point to it all. We are here to learn about others but even more importantly to learn about ourselves.
@soter_vicar
Hello Omer Cakmak. Thank you for your observation. The track was based on a digeridoo sound so as a play on words I called it Digeri2. I do not mind if it is translated as The Other 2. It sounds quite mysterious.